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Oracle Solaris vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 3, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Oracle Solaris
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
AWS Marketplace (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Oracle Solaris is 2.0%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 6.9%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Erick Kathurima - PeerSpot reviewer
Has enabled a user-friendly and lightweight installation with improved performance
I installed Oracle Solaris on a normal PC to test its functionality. It is comfortable to use and provides a good test environment, especially because it is not commonly known or recognized in the market Oracle Solaris has a graphical interface that is user-friendly, especially with its use of…
Naveen Venugopal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficient IT management with crucial automatic updates but needs developer-friendly configuration
Sometimes it is a bit of work for developers to change the configurations. Some kernels will not fit with some packages, and this aspect could be improved. Furthermore, the system's rigidity when updating packages and services needs improvement. Additionally, there should be more loosely bound functionalities to improve developer experience.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Oracle Solaris's operating system is good."
"The ability to manipulate the zones and the files within the zones from a global OS provides us flexibility that no other virtualization can match."
"Oracle Solaris was the preferred operating system for their customers to run their databases on and to get the best performance. It performs well with Oracle applications. Additionally, there are some features inside that are called zones which are Linux containers."
"The stability of the solution is good."
"Oracle Solaris has a graphical interface that is user-friendly, especially with its use of dark colors."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"Solaris is scalable because they have their own file system, like CFS."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten since we haven't faced any issues."
"Out-of-the-box SLES supported all of our HBAs and hardware specific components."
"YaST simplifies the server management of SUSE allowing for a centralized utility to control most of the server functions."
"It's a flexible solution."
"SUSE Linux Enterprise is stable."
"SUSE Linux was stable for me. I did not experience any problems with its stability."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the installation part...We don't face any issues related to the operating system or application."
"Some of the functionalities I like the most are the security features. This includes security restrictions on specific folders and secure communication for SFTP. These features are more secure and reliable. The tool also makes compliance possible."
"It also was very easy to setup, and offered an easy to use advanced setup option as well. This helped to create special configurations for different use cases."
 

Cons

"When we switch over to Solaris it was not easy because we had some troubles with the performance. Solaris is from Oracle and you would expect that it would run flawlessly, but we had some issues in sizing the previous Linux environment to the Solaris environment."
"There is an issue where Solaris doesn't give the correct figures for memory use when checked."
"If it could support other file systems, it would be better."
"They could also enable Oracle OEM for x86 architecture as well."
"I would love to see improvements in SVM, so file systems could be increased or migrated without downtime to the environment, similar to what ZFS is capable of."
"Solaris' package management could be improved, especially in comparison to Linux."
"The solution is pricey and can be improved by lowering the cost."
"Oracle Solaris can improve by supporting all the recent features that are in the market from other competitors."
"I have not seen an ROI with this solution."
"The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu."
"All distributions of Linux could use some improvement."
"We have had trouble integrating Autodesk with the SUSE manager."
"The solution could be more stable."
"Additionally, error handling needs improvement. The system should be more transparent when there's an error, rather than just declaring a generic error. It would be helpful if it could provide more specific information about the problem on that particular system. As it stands, you can waste a lot of time trying to troubleshoot these vague errors."
"SUSE Linux could provide more information about cost and the details of how clustering works."
"They should provide chatbot support for customers to open the troubleshooting cases directly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
"There are no licensing fees but you can opt to pay for support."
"It is a very expensive product."
"It is an expensive product. I rate the pricing a ten out of ten."
"The price of Oracle Solaris could be less expensive."
"The product is inexpensive."
"There is no OS licensing cost if you use their hardware and purchase hardware maintenance."
"This solution needs a license to use it."
"The license we pay is for Oracle. We make use of the community edition."
"When we first implemented this product, we had licenses for support."
"Anyone can use Linux because it is open-source."
"The price of SUSE Linux Enterprise could be cheaper. Other solutions, such as"
"I would advise others to download the free or strictly open source versions, then test them in their environment before committing to a purchase. This will allow for testing suitability for applications that they want to run."
"I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The platform is affordable."
"The tool is expensive compared to Red Hat. I rate its pricing a nine out of ten."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
8%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Oracle Linux compare with Solaris?
When comparing Oracle Linux and Solaris, I believe that Linux is more secure and more flexible. It is also very suitable for enterprises that are already Oracle solution users. I found Linux to be ...
What do you like most about Oracle Solaris?
We use the solution as an internal operating system.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Solaris?
I find the pricing of Oracle Solaris to be affordable compared to competitors like Windows.
What do you like most about SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The initial setup is simple and takes five minutes for deployment and if you have automation in place, it will take four minutes.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
I used the open-source version, so there were no setup costs.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu. The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications. Additionally, I encounter...
 

Also Known As

Solaris 11, Solaris
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Siemens, IVV
Air India, Akademicki Szpital Kliniczny (ASK), Allone, Altran, Apollo, ARCHIVA, Asia Innovatory Management School, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH, AutoData Norge AS, Baldor Electric, Business Connexion, CASIO, Ciclum Farma, Delta Lloyd, Edumate , HPE,  SAP SE,  Lenovo, BMW, T-Systems, UCX, Turners & Growers, Shenzhen Development Bank, Bosch Group, JK Tyres & Industries, IOCL, European Space Agency, Daimler AG, China Minsheng Banking Corp, Café Coffee Day, Unisys,  Petrochina Company Ltd, Fitch Ratings, ABeam Consulting Co Ltd, Tyro Payments, Rackspace, Pacific Textiles, ...
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Solaris vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
862,624 professionals have used our research since 2012.